A Caskett Story: The Newest Edition
by caskettbeliever13
Summary: Beckett is 8 months pregnant with Castle's baby. The duo and Esposito and Ryan go to investigate a crime scene and get a little more than they bargained for.


**Background Information**

After Beckett and Castle sleep together for the first time, Beckett finds out she is pregnant. She hesitates to tell him the news, though he grew suspicious of her frequent morning sickness. Eventually, she tells him she's pregnant and they embrace.

**Context**

Now, she is 37 weeks pregnant and working a really tough case. It's nearing the end of the case. It is around seven o'clock at night in the precinct.

**Story**

"Beckett," Esposito bolted from his desk chair. "Traffic cameras just caught the van with Dayton and Wemming (suspects) heading into a warehouse just off of 45th street."

"Great, let's go," Beckett said, standing up a little too quickly for being heavily pregnant. A wave of nausea passes through her, but she disregards it and heads to the squad car with Castle.

Beckett reaches for the door handle, but suddenly recoils. "Castle, you drive."

"Are those pregnancy hormones getting to your head?" Castle jokes, still standing by the passenger side door.

"Castle, you really expect me to just want to do everything all the time? I said drive," she says while smirking. Castle is visibly pleased with himself and takes the keys from Beckett. He starts the car and they drive toward the crime scene.

"You think he's armed?" Castle makes casual conversation.

" Probably," Beckett responds, dazing out the window.

A few minutes later, Castle, Beckett, Esposito, and Ryan arrive at the scene.

"This warehouse is huge; they could be anywhere," Ryan observes, taking out his gun. "Stick together or split up?"

"Let's just look around first," Beckett leads the boys through one of the doors, also taking out her gun.

Ryan was right, the warehouse was huge, even bigger on the inside. The hallway is wide and dimly lit with tall metal racks on either side. Nothing seems suspicious so far until they approach another door. Beckett slowly cracks open the door, hearing faint noises. She opens the door a little more. The room is much brighter than the wide hallway. There are many more metal racks except they are not as tall. They are stocked with miscellaneous construction equipment and tools.

The group files through the door slowly, guns at the ready. Beckett's heels faintly echo throughout the large room, which, unfortunately, alerts the suspects.

A gun shot goes off from the opposite side. Beckett and Castle immediately duck behind the first metal rack as Esposito and Ryan advance.

"NYPD, CEASE FIRE," Esposito yells as he runs to the opposite end of the room, Ryan following behind. Beckett and Castle both start to get up to follow. As Beckett makes the slightest move to stand up, she collapses back onto the ground.

"Castle," she says, visibly startled. Before she can say anything else, she starts to yell in pain and clutch her stomach.

"Kate," Castle drops back down to her side. "Is this the first one?"

Beckett nods, still fighting off the contraction. "Castle," she wearily says, "go help Esposito and Ryan."

"Kate, I can't leave you here alone," Castle says worriedly.

"Castle, I said go. I'll be fine, just go, now!" Beckett moans, still in pain. The contractions are coming faster. Castle sits there for a few more moments before another gun shot sends him running to find Esposito and Ryan.

Some of the metal racks at the opposite far corner rattle abrubtly. The suspects are trying to get away. Castle dashes down one of the aisles created by the metal racks. He reaches the end of the racks at the same time that the suspect Dayton does. Castle manages to trip Dayton, who lands on the ground hard. Before Dayton can pull his gun, Castle jumps on top of him and wrestles the gun away from him. Ryan is a few short steps away and proceeds to handcuff Dayton.

"Espo has Wemming back there. Back-up is outside. Where's Beckett?"

"Beckett," Castle runs back to the entrance where he left Beckett. She is still there, writhing in pain. She has tears in her eyes.

"Did you catch them?" Beckett is barely able to ask as she screams through another contraction.

"Yes, we got them. Kate, we need to get you out of here. Can you walk?" Castle asks frantically. Beckett tries to move but recoils in pain.

"It's okay, don't worry about it. I got you," Castle props Beckett's left arm over his shoulder. Before he can move again, Esposito appears.

"Oh my God, Beckett," he says, immediately rushing to her other side to help Castle lift her up. The two hurriedly carry her to Ryan and Esposito's squad SUV. Ryan is waiting outside near the car when he spots the trio.

"Ryan, open the back door, hurry," Esposito orders as the trio approaches the car. Ryan does as he says, looking very worried.

"How bad is it?" Ryan asks in a concerning tone. No one answers, but Beckett's wails seem to confirm his answer. Castle jumps in with Beckett in the back seat, Ryan sits shot gun and Esposito in the driver's seat. He speeds out of the warehouse in the direction of the hospital.

"It's going to be alright, Kate. We'll be there in twenty minutes, it's going to be okay," Castle comforts her.

"Castle, I don't think I'm going to make it in time," Beckett wearily says, breathing heavily.

"Espo, you need to drive faster," Castle says.

"Dude, this is New York traffic, I'm doing my best, bro," Esposito says. Beckett's contractions continue to come on heavily.

"Hang in there, Kate, we'll get you there," Castle repeats over and over again, pushing a strand of hair out of Beckett's face. His words don't seem to convince Beckett of anything positive.

Not even five minutes afterwards, Beckett experiences a rather harsh contraction. "Castle—" she starts before she starts to scream again. Castle knows they are running out of time. Frantically looking around, he notices that they are approaching the street his apartment is on.

"Espo, make a right," Castle says.

"Bro, the hospital isn't for ano—"

"Espo, just do it," Castle orders. Esposito serves right. "Pull up there."

"Castle, what's your plan?" Ryan asks.

"She's not going to make it in time; we're still fifteen minutes away, not including traffic," Castle says, kicking open the back door. "She needs to be comfortable."

"Castle," Beckett moans.

"I know, Beckett. It's going to be okay, trust me," Castle says as he picks her up. He throws his house keys toward Ryan, who catches them and runs up to Castle's apartment door. Esposito assists Castle in carrying Beckett again up the two flights of stairs. They finally reach Castle's apartment and enter. Alexis is not home, but Martha is.

"Oh Lord Jesus! Beckett darling…how far along is she? Why aren't you at the hospital? Richard—" Martha says worriedly.

"Mother, she's having this baby now. We don't have time, this is happening right now, right here," Castle says, carrying Beckett to the spare guest room. Martha follows.

"Boys, get me some blankets from that closet will you?" Martha asks, rushing to Beckett's side, who is know sprawled out on the guest bed. Beckett is breathing quickly, too quickly. "Kate, let me help you." Ryan appears with two blankets blanket. "Now, boys, I'm going to have to kick you out for now so—"

"No," Beckett pipes up. "I want them to stay." She looks desperately at Esposito and Ryan. They both hurry back to her side.

"Alright then, kiddo," Martha says, throwing a blanket over Beckett's bottom half to keep her warm. "The next contraction you have, you have to push as hard as you can, okay? Push until I say stop."

Beckett breathes heavily and looks up at Castle. Her eyes shine with tears of terror. Castle grabs her hand, kisses it, and says, "You can do it, Kate." Still staring into Castle's eyes, Beckett begins to have another contraction. With that, she looks away, pushes her chin to her chest, and starts to push. She holds Castle and Esposito's hands tightly as Ryan's hand rests on her kneecap. The pushing causes Beckett to scream louder than before.

"Okay, stop," Martha says after roughly ten seconds. "Breathe, kiddo, breath." Beckett tries to catch her breath, but she starts having another contraction. "Push!"

Beckett screams in pain again, tears flowing down her cheeks. "Come on, Kate, you can do this," Castle cheers her on as she cuts off his hand's circulation.

"Stop, stop," Martha says abruptly. "Oh, dear…"

"WHAT?!" Beckett cries. "Martha, what?! What's going on, Martha?"

"Hang on, Kate," Martha says. "Don't push. The cord is wrapped around its neck."

"No, no, Martha, no, please, no" Beckett rambles. She starts having another contraction and wants to push badly.

"Breathe Kate, breathe," Castle instructs her. Beckett cries as she desperately tries not to push.

"Okay, I got it," Martha says. Beckett and everyone else breathe a sigh of relief. Beckett begins screaming again. "Push!"

After a few minutes, Martha says, "Kate, the baby is almost here. You need to go 100% here. This baby needs you to be strong."

Beckett has another contraction and pushes again, but stops short.

"I can't do it, I can't," Beckett cries.

"Beckett, you got this," Esposito says, "Don't quit. You are not a quiter."

"It hurts," she cries again.

"Kate, you've gotta do this for your baby," Ryan says gently.

"Kate," Castle says. Beckett seems to forget about everything else and looks up at him. They just stare into each others' eyes for a minute. Castle doesn't have to say anything for Beckett to understand what he's thinking. A few seconds later, she starts to push again.

And a few seconds after that, the baby cries.

"She's here! She's here! Oh, she's perfect! It's a perfect baby girl!" Martha cries with glee as she cuts the cords and wraps the baby in the second blanket. Moments later, she lifts the baby up for all to see. Indeed, the baby was absolutely perfect. She was very tiny with large, wondrous eyes. Her hair was dark brown like both her mother's and father's hair.

"Oh," Beckett sniffles happily. She reaches out her arms to greet her baby. Martha gently places her into Beckett's arms. Immediately, Beckett sports the biggest smile and giggles. "Why, hello there!" She laughs as she studies her daughter's face. "Oh, Rick. She's perfect." She looks up at Castle, who is crying of joy as well. Castle sits closer to Beckett, putting one arm around her and reaches his other hand toward his new baby daughter.

"She is beautiful," Castle says, sliding his index finger into his daughter's palm. "She's beautiful." Everyone sits and cries and laughs as they watch the baby gaze around.

"Congratulations, Beckett," Esposito kisses the top of Beckett's head and pats her shoulder. "You're going to be one hell of a mom."

"Congrats, guys. You make one cute family," Ryan says. Beckett and Castle beam with joy.

"Hey," Beckett says, "thank you guys. I couldn't have done this without you here. And Martha, gosh, I don't even know how to thank you for this. You are amazing."

"Oh, don't mention it, kid. It's not often a woman gets to deliver her grandchild," Martha winks as she hugs Beckett. She then turns to her own son and hugs him tightly. "Good going, Richard."

And so the five adults sat in the guest room for a while, admiring the new addition to the precinct family. Beckett chose to name her daughter Nikki Joanne Castle, Nikki after the character Nikki Heat, and Joanne after her beloved mother who was murdered. She decided to make Lanie the godmother and both Esposito and Ryan the godfathers, since she couldn't choose from either of them.


End file.
